Just as ridiculous as a motorcycle wheel climbing water, and exactly comparable when the only justification is the vague, handwaving explanation that has been given for the water wheel climbing.

I'm surprised you do not know that the pressure in the air varies with altitude. Both water and air behave as fluids in these conditions, and both have the pressure vary with depth/height.

I repeat, the physics of the problem is too complicated to be settled by just a vague, hand-waving explanation. The way to settle it is to do an experiment. I have sent the mythbusters a note asking about it. I guess the more notes they receive, the more likely they are to look into it.

Ha ha. I should have stuck with my earlier statement about not coming back to this thread. I'm not going to bother responding to John's latest response. It's clear that I'm not communicating my knowledge of physics very well. I'd rather go beat my head against a wall. I'd get a more educated response from it than I am getting from John.

Carry on. I'll laugh at everyone's responses and opinions from a distance.